Method of preparing a poultry product

ABSTRACT

A synthetic poultry skin is formulated by comminuting poultry skin tissue, and mixing the comminuted tissue with a binder material. The synthetic skin formulation is then blended with water to form a paste and applied to poultry meat to give a poultry product having a synthetic skin.

United States Patent {191 Hartman et al.

[ 51 Jan. 9, 1973 North Minnehaha Avenue, Chicago, 111. 60646 22 Filed:Jan.25, 1971 211' App]: No.: 109,685

' 52 u.s.c|. ..99/107, 99/169, 99/194 51 Int.Cl ..A22c2l/00 5s Fieldofsearch ..99/107.,108,169,194

[56] References Cited UNITED STAdES PATENTS 2,910,370 10/1959 Rogers etal ..99/194 Saverslak ..99/l07 3,166,427 l/l965 Herrmann ..99/1943,192,051 6/1965 Wendt et al. ..99/107 3,503,755 3/1970 McGowan ..99/l07Primary Examiner-Hyman Lord Attorney-Edward T. McCabe, Charles E. Boutonand Robert E. Blankenbaker ABSTRACT A synthetic poultry skin isformulated by comminuting poultry skin tissue, and mixing the comminutedtissue with a binder material. The synthetic skin formulation is thenblended with water to form a paste and applied to poultry meat to give apoultry product having a synthetic skin.

10 Claims, No Drawings METHOD OF PREPARING A POULTRY PRODUCT Generally,the present invention relates to an improved method for preparingpoultry products. More particularly, the present invention relates to amethod for coating a poultry product with a synthetic skin prepared fromcomminuted poultry' skin tissue combined with a suitable bindingmaterial.

Poultry skin is utilized to cover the surfaces of many poultry productssuch as poultry roasts, poultry loaves, poultry rolls and poultry logs.Also, poultry skin is applied to the surface of certain gourmet itemssuch as breasts of turkey and chicken. Examples of poultry productswhich are enwrapped in an outer coating of whole poultry skin includethe products disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,267,442; 2,633,601; 2,922,718;3,036,922; 3,192,051; and 3,166,427. Thisnatural skin is removed fromthe poultry during processing to obtain the poultry meat. Operators thentrim the flesh and fat from the skin and cut the skin to size in orderthat it be of suitable dimensions to cover the poultry meat product.This, natural skin covering gives good appearance to the product anddecreases moisture evaporation during freezer storage and subsequentcooking of the finished product. The natural skin browns to a good colorduring the cooking process, and provides flavor and aroma to the poultryproduct.

The primary drawback to the prior art use of poultry skin in coveringpoultry products is the waste of such skin involved in cutting it tosize to cover a particular product. Much of the skin becomes left overscrap and must be discarded. Moreover, the fatty tissue and fleshadhering to the skin upon removal of the skin from the fowl is trimmedand discarded, thus resulting in further waste of poultry raw material.It would thus be a significant advance in the poultry art to develop animproved method for utilizing all of the poultry skin tissue inpreparing a skin covering for poultry products.

It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to providean improved method for coating poultry meat products.

It is anotherobject of the present invention to provide an improvedmethod for inexpensively preparing a poultry skin substitute to be usedin wrapping 'poultry roasts.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method forpreparing synthetic poultry skin by combining comminuted poultry skintissue with a suitable binder agent.

Generally, the present invention is carried out by formulating asynthetic poultry skin comprising comminuted poultry skin tissue and asuitable bindermaterial, along with optional added ingredients. Thisformulation may then be combined with a suitable amount of water to givea skin material having a pastelike consistency which can be applied tothe outside surface of poultry meat products.

In practicing the method of this invention, a fowl such as turkey isslaughtered, dressed, chilled and boned in a conventional manner. Theskin is removed from the fowl along with the layer of fat and fleshnormally adhering thereto. For the purpose of describing this invention,the poultry skin, along with its normally adhering fat and flesh, willbe jointly referred to as either poultry skin tissueor untrimmed poultryskin. The terminology synthetic poultry skin" or synthetic skin as usedin the description of this invention refers to an artificial skincovering which has been fabricated to imitate or replace real poultryskin. The synthetic skin, however, contains real poultry skin as oneconstituent thereof. Also, synthetic skin formulation will refer to theskin/binder mixture prior to blending with water.

The poultry skin tissue is comminuted to a very fine texture in asuitable comminuting device such as a cut mix or a food chopper. Thepoultry skin tissue may be cooked prior to comminution. However, bestresults are obtained using raw poultry skin tissue. The skin tissue iscomminuted at temperatures below about 50 F. It is preferred tocomminute at a temperature of from about 28 F. to about 32 F. inasmuchas the tissue is firm at this temperature and the comminution is moreefficient. The untrimmed poultry skin may be chilled to 28 F. to 32 F.,or in the alternative, frozen skin tissue can be thawed to a temperatureof 28 F. to 32 F. Dry

ice can be added during the comminution step to maintain the 28 F. to 32F. temperature.

The comminuted poultry skin tissue is then mixed with one or morebinding materials. Suitable binding agents include sodium caseinate,cereals (wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, maize), gelatin, milk solids,liquid egg whites (albumen), flour such as potato flour and wheat flour,starches such as cornstarch, comminuted meat proteins, vegetable gumssuch as carboxymethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, locust bean gum andguar gum, and mixtures thereof. Usually the comminuted tissue will beblended with more than one binding agent, for example sodium caseinateand flour, or gelatin and liquid egg whites. It has been discovered thata suitable synthetic skin formulation can be prepared by mixing acomposition containing from about 50 percent to about 95 percentcomminuted poultry skin tissue by weight, and from about 5 percent toabout 50 percent binder materials by weight. A more preferred range ofingredients is from about percent to about percent comminuted skintissue and from about 5 percent to about 30 percent binder material.

Several categories of optional ingredients may be advantageously addedto the mixture of comminuted skin tissue and binder material. Forexample, a food grade humectant may be added in order to impartincreased moisture retention properties to the final synthetic skincoating. Suitable humectants include propylene glycol, glycerin,sorbitol, corn syrup and various sugars. Humectants will generallycomprise less than about 5 percent of the synthetic skin formulation, ona dry weight basis, and preferably from about 1 percent to about 5percent.

Also, antioxidants may be added to the synthetic skin formulation inorder to provide an acceptable shelf-life for the final product bypreventing oxidative deterioration of the fat content of the syntheticskin. Suitable antioxidants include butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT),butylated hydroxy anisole (BHA), sodium phosphate, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The amount of antioxidants which may be addedis generally regulated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration andis usually less than about 1 percent on a dry weight basis.

Often, other edible materials can be incorporated into the syntheticskin formulation in order to give the skin more body, or to improveappearance and texture of the synthetic skin. Thus bread croutons orbread crumbs may be beneficially employed as a texturizing material. Thetexturizing material may be present in an amount of up toabout 45percent based on the dry weight of the synthetic skin formulation.

Other ingredients which may be optionally added to the synthetic skinformulation include browning agents which will help impart a desirablecolor to the synthetic skin upon roasting. Sugars and starches may beincluded in this group. It should be noted that sugars may also bepresent as humectants, and that starches may also be present as bindingagents. Flavorings and seasonings may be added to impart desired flavorsto the synthetic skin. Also, metallic salts such as sodium chloride andmetal polyphosphates may be added in small amounts. Finally, variouscoloring agents may be incorporated into the synthetic skin formulation.

After the comminuted poultry skin tissue has been mixed with the bindingmaterials and any optional ingredients, the resulting formulation may beblended with water in order to obtain a paste-like consistency. Theamount of water added is not critical. Thus where moisture is alreadypresent due to the addition of egg whites or gelatin solution, waterneed not be added. Excessive amounts of water may cause an unevendistribution of the skin formulation on the surface of the product, thuscausing patchiness and spottiness when the product is cooked. On theother hand, the use of too little water may result in a skin formulationwhich is too thick and pasty to be easily handled. Generally, the amountof water added to the skin formulation will be sufficient to result in asynthetic skin of paste-like consistency which can be processed throughpumps and automated equipment. Thus, the amount of water added to theskin formulation may range from about percent to about 70 percent, andpreferably from about 30 percent to about 60 percent, based upon thefinal weight of the skin paste. That is, the final skin paste willbroadly contain from about 0-70 percent water and from about 30-100percent skin formulation, and preferably, from about 30-60 percent waterand from about 40-70 percent skin formulation.

Application of the paste-like synthetic skin material to the poultryproduct may be carried out by any desired means. For example, thesynthetic skin material may be extruded onto the product, or applied byhand utensils, or the product may be rolled in the skin formulation tobatter the surface of the meat, or the product may be dipped into theskin formulation to cover the meat surface. The thickness of the skinmaterial on the surface of the meat should range from about threethirty-seconds of an inch to about one-fourth inch, and preferably fromabout one-eighth inch to about threesixteenths of an inch.

After the raw poultry product has been covered with a thin coating ofthe synthetic poultry skin, the product is preferably packaged in asuitable container, e.g., aluminum pan, and immediately frozen. However,this invention also contemplates cooking of the final productimmediately after application of the synthetic skin to the meat.

During roasting of the product the binding agents retain the syntheticskin formulation intact on the product surface. After cooking, thesynthetic skin has an appearance and texture similar to natural skin.

It should be noted that the synthetic skin material can also be appliedas a covering to replace torn, damaged, or cut-out sections of thenatural skin of downgraded fowl, Primarily, however, the synthetic skinmaterial is contemplated as an artificial skin coating for poultryroast-type products packaged in aluminum containers.

EXAMPLE I The synthetic skin formulation was prepared by mixing thefollowing ingredients:

Comminuted raw poultry skin tissue 87.7% Sodium caseinate 3.0 Wheatflour 3.0 Sorbitol 2.0 Sodium Chloride 1.8 Carboxymethyl cellulose 1.0Celery Salt 1.0 Sodium Phosphate 0.5

A paste-like material was formed from the above mixture by combining 2parts water to 3 parts formulated skin. The paste-like material wasextruded onto the surface of a raw turkey roast. The cooked productdisplayed a natural-looking, well-browned, tasty, skin coating.

EXAMPLE II A synthetic skin formulation was prepared by combining thefollowing ingredients:

Comminuted raw poultry skin tissue 50% 5% gelatin solution 20 Liquid eggwhites l3 Nonfat milk solids l 1 Wheat flour 6 The above ingredientswere mixed at a temperature of 120 F. The resulting syntheticformulation was applied to the surface of a raw turkey roast. Thismixture resulted in a tasty, synthetic skin that remained intact on theroast during cooking.

EXAMPLE Ill The following ingredients were mixed to form an artificialpoultry skin formulation:

Ground raw poultry skin tissue Liquid egg white Salt Cornstarch Potatoflour Methyl cellulose Locust bean gum Celery salt Sodium phosphate Theabove formulation was blended with sufficient water to make a skin pastecomprising percent water and 40 percent synthetic skin formulation, andwas applied to a raw turkey roast with a spatula. After roastabout 5percent to about 50 percent of a binding material selected from thegroup consisting of sodium caseinate, cereals, gelatin, milk solids,liquid egg whites, flour, starches, comminuted meat protein, vegetablegums and mixtures thereof; blending the synthetic skin formulation withsufficient water to form a material having a paste-like consistencycomprising from about 30 percent to about 100 percent skin formulationand from about 0 percent to about 70 percent water; and applying thepaste-like synthetic skin material to the outside surface of a rawpoultry product.

2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the product is subsequently packaged andfrozen.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the untrimmed poultry skin iscomminuted at a temperature of from about 28F. to about 32F.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the synthetic skin formulation isprepared by mixing from about percent to about percent comminutedpoultry skin tissue and from about 5 percent to about 30 percent bindingmaterial.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the synthetic skin formulation isblended with sufficient water to give a skin paste comprising from about40 percent to about 70 percent skin formulation and from about 30percent to about 60 percent water.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the skin paste is applied to thepoultry product at a thickness of from about three thirty-seconds of aninch to about onefourth of an inch.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the poultry product is a turkey roast.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the poultry product is a chicken roast.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein a food grade humectant is added to theskin formulation.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein an antioxidant is added to thesynthetic skin formulation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the product is subsequently packagedand frozen.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the untrimmed poultry skinis comminuted at a temperature of from about 28*F. to about 32*F.
 4. Themethod of claim 3 wherein the synthetic skin formulation is prepared bymixing from about 70 percent to about 95 percent comminuted poultry skintissue and from about 5 percent to about 30 percent binding material. 5.The method of claim 4 wherein the synthetic skin formulation is blendedwith sufficient water to give a skin paste comprising from about 40percent to about 70 percent skin formulation and from about 30 percentto about 60 percent water.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the skinpaste is applied to the poultry product at a thickness of from aboutthree thirty-seconds of An inch to about one-fourth of an inch.
 7. Themethod of claim 6 wherein the poultry product is a turkey roast.
 8. Themethod of claim 6 wherein the poultry product is a chicken roast.
 9. Themethod of claim 6 wherein a food grade humectant is added to the skinformulation.
 10. The method of claim 6 wherein an antioxidant is addedto the synthetic skin formulation.